4 Screenplays

by Gerald Schoenewolf

This volume, 4 SCREENPLAYS, contains a collection of literary screenplays by Gerald Schoenewolf, a psychoanalyst who brings his knowledge of psychology to bear in these works. All four of them won awards at film festivals, but none has been produced…yet! "A Way You’ll Never Be" is a tragic and original road adventure about a serial murderer and an adorable young hitchhiker who wants to win fame and fortune on the TV show, American Idol. It is a dramatic tale full of drama and romance, but with a realistic, tragic ending. "Billy the Kid" is the author’s biographical tale of the rise and fall of the famous outlaw. It is the most realistic and touching movie biography about this legend ever written, one that is as character-driven as it is action-packed. "Stopping by the Woods on a Rainy Evening" is Schoenewolf’s contribution to the horror genre. It is a deeply psychological thriller about two couples who accidentally meet and end up tenting together at an isolated pond on a rainy night. It is complete with a twisted ending. Finally, "Lizzie Borden" offers a definitive take on the story of Lizzie Borden, who axed to death her father and stepmother in the late 18th Century. It portrays her not as a villain but as a sad and tragic figure caught up in a dysfunctional family. It is hoped these five works will add to a growing list of American literary screenplays.

426 pages, Paperback

Published February 23, 2019

About the author

Gerald Schoenewolf is a licensed psychoanalyst and professor of psychology. He is the author of 22 books, most of which are about clinical psychology and psychotherapy. He has also written six novels, a poetic translation of Chinese Daoist philosophy and an illustrated book of poetry, HOLDING ON AND LETTING GO (revised in 2020). He has also written 20 screenplays and written, directed and produced two feature films. Five of his screenplays have won awards at festivals. He lives with his wife, Julia and his parrot and two cats in the mountains of Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Amy Capella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of 4 screenplays surprised me. Usually screenplays are kind of dull, written for production, not for reading. Schoenewolf introduces these as "literary screenplays" and they definitely are. The collection includes wonderful biographical dramas about Billy the Kid and Lizzie Borden. Billy the Kid, as portrayed here, is a 5 foot thee inch skinny young teen, maybe 115 pounds, who kills his first man--the town bully--when he was fifteen. I have never gotten to know who Billy the Kid really was until I read this screenplay. Likewise, I have never known the real Lizzie Borden before; here the story starts when she is 5 years old and is sexually molested by her father. It then shifts to the conflict between Lizzie and her stepmother, a manipulative woman was trying to get Lizzie's father to deprive her of all her inheritance. By the time she wields her legendary axe, you understand just why she did it. It also goes on to show what happened to her after she was acquitted. There are two other screenplays, one called, "A Way You'll Never Be," which portrays a serial murderer and his road trip with a 17-year-old runaway down to the Florida Keys. This is a gripping portrait of a charming teen-aged girl who aspires to be on American Idol. It is a haunting literary characterization that will stay with me a long time, like Holly Golightly from "Breakfast at Tiffany's." or Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind. This was perhaps the most moving script in the book, with an extremely tragic ending. This is only for those who, like me, have a craving for gritty realism. I highly recommend this book. It is, as they say, a page-turner.

[Francesca Wynter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lizzie Borden story interesting

The Lizzie Borden story Wasa good read well written and interesting the serial killer story I felt was not finished